thè amuseirient of those who may from time, to- time have stopped
to rest themselves in the shade which the pillars, afforded.
> It will be seen by the drawing of them,, that thèse pillars are of
different sizeis,' although they ihay, perhaps, have heen once of equal
height; and we willnot venture to hazard any conjeeture with regard
to the; purpose for which they may have been erected ¡ they cannot
be seen from the sea-shore, or the lower road, although: they are but
à short distance: from both ; for notwithstanding they are-placed on-a
ridge of hills, they are so situated in the hollow in which they stand,
as tb be indistinguishable from below, Ta; rejecting, however, the
“ torre sormontata da' una cupolav as the : boundary established in
the time of the Ptolemies, we may, perhaps, at the same time, dispensi;
with the columns which Signor Della Celia; has imagined to
regulate-the division ; and it-will not in that case be of any great
importance whether the square pillars at Hamed Garoosh be or be
not the same as those which the Doctor has mentioned. For our
own part we see no building whatever in this neighbourhood, which
answers to our idea of the tower of Euphrantas, either with regard
to its nature or position ; and as we find other buildings to the eastward
of Zaffran which seem to us better calculated for boundary
towers, we are content to take a more extended sense of the term
employed by Strabo (¡rvn^iis) than Signor Della Celia thinks it prudent
to adopt.
We cannot take our leave of Zaffran without noticing the very
singular and formidable appearance of the beach at this place and
its neighbourhood; and had we not ourselves beheld the extraordinary
scene which it presented, we should: scarcely have believed it
possible that the force of the sea could, under any circumstances,
have raised the large blocks of stone which are piled up on this part
of the coast*. The occasional regularity in which these are heaped
one above another, induced us, on the first view of them, to imagine
that, they had been intentionally placed there for, the purpose of 6
breakwater; but the long extent of the ranges soon -proved the improbability
of this supposition and the idea was dismissed as heartily
as it had been entertained. Heaps of sand and sea-weed are thrown
up with these blocks of stone, and the roar and confusion which a
moderate, gale of wind..here occasions, are. such as in other places
will seldom be found to accompany the most; violent weather f.,
The .general appearance of Zaffran is however by , <no means uji-
pleasing, although it is destitute, like the rest of the Syrtis, o f , the
advantages afforded by trees. The monotony of the flat- and marshy
surface, so predominant in other parts, is here broken by hills which
are covered with verdure and overspread with a variety of flowers;
some of the valleys are partially cultivated, and, the flocks of sheep
and goats which are scattered over the higher grounds, together
* The drawing annexed will give some idea of the manner in which these blocks are
disposed.
The dangerous peculiarities of the Gulfs of Syrtis are-frequently noticed by the
ancients ; b u t the following passage from Sallust seems to. allude more particularly to
the powerful action of the surf, so conspicuous in the instance which we have jùst
described.
Nam ubi mare magnum esse, et saevire ventis coepit, limum, Arenamq : et saxa
ingentia, jlwctus trahurit; ita facies locoriim cum ventis simul mutatur. Syrtes ab
tractu nominatae.—(Bell. Ju g u rth ., p. 78.)